


What Do They Fight Over?

by miniwoolf



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: F/M, after The Last Guardian, old drabbles of a prompt, someone please make me finish this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 16:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16162208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miniwoolf/pseuds/miniwoolf
Summary: Neither of them really thought a lot about having kids. It was kind of in the back of Artemis’ mind, in an “I am an only child and must carry on the family name” sense. Holly’s not very good with kids. She’s impatient with her own immaturity, and besides, being around kids stresses her out. But there’s still this weird desire, this weird drive to add one and one and make three, to make something greater the sum of the parts.





	What Do They Fight Over?

**Author's Note:**

> Please, please, please, if this looks at all interesting to you, leave a kudos or comment. I would LOVE to deliver more of that good-good Howl content if there's an audience.

The issue hung heavy in the air, weighing heavier in the couples’ chests with every new breath. Artemis pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a measured sigh. Holly sat across the room in one of the many high-end armchairs in the Fowl Estate; her feet dangling and her face in her hands. This was not going well, but neither had really expected it would. Love could do a lot of things, but allowing a human male and an elven female to conceive and bear children was not one of them.

“I hate this,” Holly said, “I hate this and it’s all your fault.” Artemis laced his fingers and stretched his arms out in front of himself before bringing his hands to rest on the back of his head. She had a point.

“Perhaps we should step away from the matter at hand and return to it once we’ve had more time to think,” Artemis suggested.

Holly snorted and slapped her hands on her lap. “What more is there for me to think about? I’ve run through every possibility I could on my own already.  _ We  _ need to talk about this.  _ Right now _ is the time to talk about this.”

Although Artemis had read through countless psychology tomes and studies on interpersonal relationships, platonic and otherwise, he was at a loss in this particular situation. The topic seemed to grow in complexity each time it resurfaced. 

When he and Holly decided to begin a romantic relationship, the pair had more pressing matters to deal with than childbearing and rearing. How serious were they about the relationship? Who would travel above or underground and when? How often? Should one of them move in with the other? How could they keep Foaly from spying on their correspondence?

**Author's Note:**

> original brainstorming
> 
>  
> 
> What do they fight over: at first it’s a bunch of moral stuff, and they get mean. and holly’s not always the one with the “higher” set of morals. she’s got prejudice from her life with the fae to work through, too.  
> after (most of) the moral things are dealt with, it’s kids. they know it’ll never work. neither human nor elf kids belonged in a home like theirs. they know that even if they could get rod A to fit into slot B, the genetics are just incompatible. myles and beckett (as well as juliet and foaly) provide nieces and nephews, but it just isn’t the same.
> 
>  
> 
> neither of them really thought a lot about having kids growing up. it was kind of in the back of artemis’ mind, in an “i am an only child and must carry on the family name” sense. holly’s not very good with kids. she’s impatient with her own immaturity, and being around kids just stresses her out. but there’s still this weird desire, this weird drive to add one and one and make three, to make something greater the sum of the parts.
> 
>  
> 
> as they age, despite holly’s seemingly never-ending youth (she laughs when arty says things like this- despite the extended lifespan of elves, she can feel herself becoming slower, less agile, less sure of the body that had carried her through adventure after adventure- and it scares her) and despite the human male’s neverending fertility (something artemis sometimes wishes he never had, so it was never an issue, never the unsolvable problem this has become, so he never even had the ability to imagine that if things were just a little different, in a life where maybe if they weren’t what they were, he’d never have to feel this... ache) they know that even the imagined possibilities, the one they never said out loud, (out of fear of superstition or fear of hope, they’ll never know) are being closed to them.
> 
>  
> 
> time brings perspective, and shows the pair that love is sacrifice, and asks them to ask themselves if love is a worthy enough endeavor to sacrifice this. and they decide it is. because what other choice do they have?


End file.
